Daily News Digest

In this morning’s edition of the CyclingTips Daily News Digest: Alexander Kristoff takes a third Tour of Qatar stage victory; Lampre-Merida insists it hasn’t violated MPCC rules with retention of Ulissi; Cameron Wurf’s year away from the WorldTour; La Course by La Vuelta to go ahead after Belgium Tour changes dates; Lampre – Not re-signing Horner ‘came down to his age’; Why cycling makes us happy – the positive psychology of being on the bike; Discussing Drapac on the Cycling Central podcast; Supported by Wiggle?; A day in the desert with MTN-Qhubeka; How To Train For Fast, Flat Cycling; Kokua jumper.

Alexander Kristoff takes a third Tour of Qatar stage victory

Norwegian sprinter Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) his continued his dominant run at the Tour of Qatar, winning his third stage in five days on Thursday. Kristoff dashed to victory in Madinat Al Shamal at the end of the 153km fifth stage, beating Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Nikias Arndt (Giant-Alpecin).

“Honestly, today I was quite tired,” Kristoff said. “Every stage here in Qatar is pretty hard, so after four stages, it was not easy at all. But we managed to stay in front all day. We concentrated on our goal, and it worked well. At the end our team did a great effort in the last five kilometres to bring me in the best possible position for the sprint.”

Another windy day in the desert saw Etixx-Quick-Step break the race into several groups on the road early in the stage, but it all came back together after 62km. Five riders got clear at one stage — Ben Hermans (BMC Racing), Marco Haller (Katusha), Dmitriy Gruzdev (Astana), Jelle Wallays (Topsport-Vlaanderen Baloise), and Matthew Hayman (Orica-GreenEdge) — but after reaching a maximum lead of 2:35 the gap started to close.

The race came back together and it was a 33-rider group that contested the finish.

Kristoff’s win propelled him to third overall behind Niki Terpstra (Etixx-Quick-Step) and Maciej Bodnar (Tinkoff-Saxo). With one stage remaining Kristoff is in with a shot of overall victory but he’ll need to win the stage and the intermediate sprints to do so.

Diego Ulissi’s Lampre-Merida team has insisted that it has done nothing wrong in planning for the Italian’s return to competition, despite concerns from the MPCC that the team has breached one of the organisations rules.

In a statement on Thursday the MPCC referred to its rule about not signing riders with bans of six months or longer:

“The implementation of article four … dictates team members ‘not to hire – within the two years following the suspension – riders found guilty of anti-doping rules violation and then suspended for at least six months by their national/international associations.’

“On this matter, in the next days, MPCC is waiting for the position of Lampre-Merida about the team’s press release announcing Diego Ulissi’s come back on the next Vuelta al Pais Vasco.”

Lampre-Merida responded to the MPCC’s concerns, saying:

“Ulissi returning to compete in the team fully respects the MPCC rules and regulations, namely the article four which is mentioned in the press release,” it states.

“This rule is in fact applicable to the hiring of new riders: as Ulissi already obtains a contract with the team, therefore this rule does not apply to his case and for this we don’t comprehend the necessity to clarify our position.”

Ulissi is currently serving a nine-month ban after testing positive for higher-than-allowed amounts of Salbutamol in his system at last year’s Giro d’Italia.

Click here and here to read more at CyclingTips. And click here for The Inner Ring’s interpretation of the situation.

Cameron Wurf’s year away from the WorldTour

Since late last year many Australian cycling fans have been wondering what Cameron Wurf will be doing in 2015. His contract with Cannondale wasn’t renewed and all we’ve seen of him has been in the national championships and while riding for the national at the Jayco Herald Sun Tour.

In an interview with SBS Cycling Central Wurf has explained that he’s taking a year away from the WorldTour in an attempt to “revive his career”.

“I don’t feel like I have been racing to the level I am capable of and that’s wasting my time and the team’s time,” Wurf said. “The last few years I’ve had glimpses of feeling like I can be quite competitive and ride with the better guys and my results have shown that.

“I know I’ve made a bucket load of mistakes, and unfortunately I’ve felt in the last couple of years in the sport that I can’t get out of that routine. I haven’t had the chance to take a deep breath and see where I have been going wrong so that I can fix it.”

Wurf is reportedly going to spend his time mountain biking, racing triathlons, trying out cyclocross and taking part in charity events, all with the support of Cannondale.

“I’m really looking forward to it. It seems to be a good opportunity to freshen up a little bit and work on some areas where I feel like I have been lacking in my career. Mountain biking will help my technical ability and crosstraining will help me with feeling a bit more athletic as I don’t feel quite as good an athlete as I used to be when I came from rowing.”

La Course by La Vuelta to go ahead after Belgium Tour changes dates

Spanish newspaper AS reports that La Course by La Vuelta — the one-day women’s race slated for the final day of the Vuelta a España — will go ahead as planned after a scheduling conflict was partially resolved.

After the initial announcement about the race, the UCI expressed concern about the timing, given the race would clash with the Belgium Tour, the Giro di Toscana and the Chrono Champenois. Organisers of the Belgium Tour have moved that race by one week, but a conflict with the Giro di Toscana and the Chrono Champenois still exists.

As The Inner Ring writes:

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It’s hard not to see this as ASO getting its way, a new race is added to the calendar because it’s got the backing of a big business while smaller races get bumped and will probably see few star riders part. But then again, as much as the Chrono Champenois has been a staple of the calendar, maybe it is worth backing a big race that will be on TV? Also the other event is the lesser-ranked Giro Toscana which has had poor ratings on safety. Anyway, it’s only for one year, hopefully the 2016 calendar can see events spread out, not just avoiding a clash but providing a broader calendar.

Lampre: Not re-signing Horner ‘came down to his age’

Lampre-Merida general manager Brent Copeland has told VeloNews that the reason Chris Horner wasn’t signed for another season was not down to his performance in 2014 or concerns about his low cortisol levels before the Vuelta — a fact that eventually saw the then-defending champion excluded from the race under MPCC rules.

“The main reason came down to his age,” Copeland told VeloNews. “It was difficult to convince everyone within the team to keep him. There are only places for 25 riders on the team, and it’s not always easy to keep everyone happy. It’s unfortunate, because Chris is a fantastic rider and person, but his age was the deciding factor.”

Speaking of the team’s decision to exclude Horner from the Vuelta, Copeland said:

“I must be honest, that wasn’t a factor at all [in not giving him a 2015 contract],” Copeland said. “We had to respect the rules and regulations of the MPCC, and we pulled him out of the Vuelta. That was a very difficult decision.”

“When you sit down and look at it, he’ll turn 44 this year, it was not easy to convince everyone to keep him. It was not a decision of just one person,” Copeland said. “I am the same age as Chris, but when I saw how dedicated he was, how much he focused on training, how he worked on stretching and core strength, and how professional he is, hat’s off to him. He could show a lot of young riders how it’s done.”

Why cycling makes us happy: the positive psychology of being on the bike

Cycling is a beautiful sport. We hear it all the time. We experience it when we ride and race. For the ever-increasing number of us that have caught the cycling bug, we know how happy cycling makes us. But what is it that makes us love cycling so much? Why are we so compulsively drawn to it? Why does cycling make us happy in a way that perhaps tennis, or swimming, or footy can’t?

In an article for CyclingTips yesterday, Dr Justin Coulson pulled together 15 evidence-based reasons why cycling is great for us. Here’s one:

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Accomplishment

Some scholars argue that accomplishment is one of the key contributors to our sense of wellbeing. Because of its accessibility, cycling is a never-ending source of accomplishment opportunities. Whether it’s a strava KOM or PR, a long-distance ride, an Everest experience, or reaching a personal goal, our cycling accomplishments are rewarding.

Discussing Drapac on the Cycling Central podcast

It’s fair to say that Tuesday’s article about Drapac Professional Cycling has generated a fair bit of discussion here at CyclingTips. Yesterday, CT editor Matt de Neef was a guest on the SBS Cycling Central podcast to discuss the article and the issues surrounding it. Click through to 15 minutes in the file below to get straight to the chat.

Supported by Wiggle?

You might have noticed a small Wiggle logo at the top of this post and in a few other places on the site. So what’s that all about? Instead of seeing Wiggle’s banner ads on the site you’ll see their logo associated with a couple sections of the site, namely News and the Daily News Digest.

Nothing has changed at all in terms of those pieces of content — we’re doing things exactly the same as we did before. And we aren’t suddenly going to start filling those areas of the site with Wiggle-related content. It’s just a different way of showing that Wiggle’s a supporter of what we do here at CyclingTips, allowing us to continue creating the content you come here to see.

A day in the desert with MTN-Qhubeka

In this short video from MTN-Qhubeka we follow Johann van Zyl, Jaco Venter and Kristian Sbaragli through the outskirts of Doha, Qatar, as they get ready for a stage of the Tour of Qatar. Sand anyone?

How To Train For Fast, Flat Cycling

Riding fast on flat roads is a skill that you can practice. Here are some tips from the guys at GCN to help you on your way.